Living and Non Living
A few years ago we introduced the concept of living and non-living by introducing the students to our brand new class pet.
The big reveal!
Observing the fish. They named him Violet.
(RIP Violet. You served us well for 3 years. We loved you.)
Comparing the living fish to a non-living fish. (Er, that is NOT dead Violet, just a plastic fish)
Sorting pictures of Living and Non-Living things
We also have an artificial-natural sorting work from Montessori Printshop
Plants and Animals
We then compared Violet the fish with a plant.
Quite different!
Sorting Plant and Animal cards from The Helpful Garden
Vertebrates and Invertebrates
Feeling your backbone
Matching skeletons to the animal outlines. I adapted this set from the one made by In-Print for Children
You can find vertebrate and invertebrate sorting cards in a variety of places. I don’t like using them because a child cannot tell just by looking at a picture whether an animal has a backbone or not.
Classes of Vertebrates
The Helpful Garden has a GREAT printable showing the backbones of the various classes of vertebrates. I don’t have a picture of it from our class but you can download your own set here.
